Multi-dimensional moisture transfer in fibers, textiles, and fabrics is commonly known as the moisture management property. Moisture management in clothing fabric typically refers to the transport of both moisture vapor and liquid away from the body of the clothing wearer. Many researchers consider the moisture management property of a fabric to be a major contributing factor to the perceived comfort a wearer of clothing experiences. For instance, during intense physical exercise an individual's perspiration rate may increase dramatically over the resting rate. Excreted perspiration in the form of liquid and vapor is transferred to those clothing surfaces in close proximity to the individual's skin. Liquid sweat and condensed vapor are desirably absorbed by the clothing fabric and transferred from the fabric's inner surface to the fabric's outer surface. At the outer surface the moisture is evaporated into the surrounding environment and/or is accumulated on the outer surface of the fabric. Fabrics possessing desirable moisture management properties impart a dry feeling to the wearer and are extremely desirable for the manufacture of casual wear, sportswear, or personal protective clothing.
Historically, cotton has been widely used in the manufacture of clothing due to cotton's low cost and extremely comfortable wear properties. However, cotton because of its generally poor moisture management characteristics has not been utilized to the extent it could be.
Conventionally, several attempts have been made to make textiles and fabrics with desirable moisture transport properties. For instance, several attempts have been disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,509,285, 6,432,504, 6,427,493, 6,341,505, 6,277,469, 5,315,717, 5,735,145, 4,411,660,and 0,064,639 A1. Some of these attempts, U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,509,285, 6,432,504, and 6,427,493, utilize synthetic fiber to construct fabrics via conventional methods of knitting. Other conventional attempts utilize a cellulose substrate produced via fiber chemical process and non-woven manufacturing processes, as exemplified in U.S. Pat. No. 0,064,639 A1. However, all these conventional routes have utilized either a multi-layer structure design, U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,277,469 , 5,315,717, 4,411,660, or used fabrics with moisture management properties, such as in U.S. Pat. No. 5,269,720 “Moisture Managing Brassiere”, U.S. Pat. No. 5,291,617 “Moisture Management Garment”, and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/759,241, “Composite Textile Material”. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/759,241 additionally discloses a composite structure with different distributions of hydrophobic or hydrophilic points/areas on the two surfaces.
Conventionally, there does not exist an integrated process of producing textiles or fabrics with a desired moisture management property.